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Thomas Keane

(
Tribune file photo, Chicago Tribune
/
February 24, 2015
)

Former Chicago Ald. Thomas Keane (31st) gets paroled from federal prison in Lexington, Ky. on February 3, 1978. His wife, Aldine (not pictured), was waiting to pick him up. Keane, who was Mayor Richard J. Daley's floor leader and the man often described as the second-most powerful figure in the city after Daley, was convicted in 1974 of mail fraud and conspiracy for using his inside knowledge and influence to further a scheme to buy nearly 1,900 parcels of tax-delinquent property and sell them to various government agencies at inflated prices. He was indicted by then-U.S. Attorney Jim Thompson, who was elected as governor of the state in 1976. Keane, who regained his license to practice law after serving 22 months in prison, died in 1996 at age 90.